HANK JANSON BLUES
(Peter Cornish / George Korel)
as recorded by Anne Shelton & Hank Janson
with Johnny Franz (piano)
& Wally Stott and his Orchestra
May 6th 1953
(spoken)
[as]
Hello Hank, I've been waiting,
I've been wanting to see you, honey!
[hj]
Oh, hiya kid!
[as]
Are you going my way, Hank?
[hj]
Listen kid, I'm kinda busy right now!
[as]
I was wondering, maybe we could -
[hj]
Tell you what, honey, I'll give you a ring sometime!
[as]
Oh Hank!
(sung)
[as]
I'm walkin' around with nowhere to go,
Only myself to amuse.
I feel so tired and a new kind of low,
I've got the Hank Janson blues!
He doesn't know I even exist,
I'm not the one he would choose.
I hope that I have a place on his list,
I've got the Hank Janson blues!
'Cause Hank is a guy,
A wonderful guy,
He's tough, but he's kind you see.
He has the breaks,
He's got what it takes,
But he takes no time out for me!
So I'll stick around and wait for my chance,
Guess I've got nothing to lose!
But till this guy's in the mood for romance,
I've got the Hank Janson blues,
I've got the Hank Janson blues!
historical note -
Hank Janson was the writer of luridly salacious
thriller novels written in the American vernacular,
in the 1940's and '50's.
Written in the first person with himself as the hero,
readers were told he was born in England, stowed away
on a fishing trawler, dived for pearls in the Pacific,
went whaling in the Arctic, worked all over the United
States as a truck driver, news reporter and private
detective, and served in Burma during the second world war.
The truth was rather different, his real name was
Stephen Daniel Frances and he was brought up in Lambeth,
London and was a clerk before becoming an author.
Over a hundred of his novels were published, with titles
such as "Broads Don't Scare Easy", "Skirts Bring Me Sorrow",
"Smart Girls Don't Talk" and "Sweetheart, Here's Your Grave".
(Transcribed by Peter Akers - January 2014)